25 Christmas Questions

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both.
2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial. My hubby insists, or I would have real. This year we bought a pre-lit tree and it really is beautiful. I hate putting lights on.
   
3. When do you put up the tree? The Sunday after Thanksgiving.
4. When do you take the tree down? After the feast of the Epiphany-Jan.6.
   
5. Do you like egg nog? Love it! Especially with a little Bailey's! "wink!"
   
6. Favorite gift received as a child? Victoria! A beautiful Madam Alexander baby doll.
7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, of course!
   
8. Hardest person to buy for? My brother who is a catholic priest.
   
9. Easiest person to buy for? My two daughters. I could buy stuff for them all day!
   
10. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards? Handmade in the mail.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I love everything anyone ever takes the time to pick out for me. However I always do really badly in grab-bags!
    
12. Favorite Christmas movie?It's a Wonderful Life, followed closely by Meet Me in St. Louis.
    
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? After Thanksgiving.
    
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? One of my brother's parishioners always gives him a tin of the absolute best cookies ever made, anywhere, anytime. I can't even describe!
    
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Colored this year, I have done both. I actually prefer white, but my kids have protested and my cute little primitive tree and ornies have been put aside in favor of the traditional.
    
17. Favorite Christmas song? "The Christmas Song"
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay in town.
    
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comit, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen, and of course old twinkle -nose!
    
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? With my extended family on Christmas eve, and at home with the immediate family on Christmas morning.
    
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? This sounds really bad, but its the people who come to church who never come the rest of the year. They are noisy and disrespectful, and make it very hard to concentrate on the mass. But I always try to be nice and welcoming anyway. Last year there were 3 teenagers in front of me, one was reading a magazine, one could not stop whispering and bugging her sisters and one was knitting!
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I have an extensive snowman collection!
    
24. Favorite thing for Christmas dinner? Whatever. I never cook, so I am happy with whatever my family makes.
    
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? For a couple of peaceful hours with my family to enjoy each others company.

Also, I was the lucky recipient of a hand stamped Christmas card and old willow thread from Belgium! Thank you SO much, who ever you are!!

Long time-no blog!

Oh I've been a bad bad girl! I haven't posted or read my blog(s) is so long! I have been so busy with all of the activities of the season, and both my sons sport schedules have really heated up in December. Also my mother has just gotten over a horrible staff infection-which lasted for weeks and involved many trips back and forth to the doctor. So its been busy, busy, busy! But I am done with my Christmas shopping and just have this little half day before my youngest is off for Christmas vacation for the next 2 weeks.
I have been busy this season making hand made cards-what fun! I have a good friend who is a Stampin up demonstrator and of course she got me addicted. (it wasn't that hard, I am an easy target!)




I have also been slowly working on my next model. I say slowly, as I just don't seem to be able to sit down and work on it. Too much stuff going on. But I am nearly done, and then I will have 2 new charts to release in January. Here's a sneek peek of "I love Ewe"!



I am hoping in the year 2008 to really start cranking out some stuff. I have learned punch needle now pretty well, after a couple of Punch and Cookie sessions at my LNS.(I didn't really need more than one session-it is that easy to learn, but I found I enjoyed the company). So I hope to produce some cute punchneedle designs. Also, I hear the wool calling to me, so I think I will be doing some wool applique and some rug hooking in the fututre.I am hoping to release some designs in January and then concentrate on some new stuff for the April Online Needlework Show, and in between sell some handcrafted stuff on ebay. As you can see, what really plagues me is my desire to have my fingers in dozens of different pies! But it keeps me busy and excited!

Merry Christmas to all of you who are of that persuasion, and Happy Holidays to those of you who aren't. I hope you all enjoy the warmth of this season as I am lucky enough to do with my family and friends!

Wonderland by Trilogy

I have been stitching! I promise! I completed this design for my secret stitcher at my guild. She doesn't read my blog(that I know of). I gave it to her last night at our Christmas party. She seemed to like it. Its fun to watch her open it incognito!

I finished it using the directions found here. Love the little button accents, don't you? I will definitely be finishing more pillows in this way.

Winter Wonderland

House #3 of Hawk Run Hollow

I finally finished the third house of Houses of Hawk Run Hollow. I needed to take a little break from my model stitching and Christmas stitching, and this block was almost done. I hope I can find time to work on this in 2008. It really would be nice to get it done. I started it in 2005!

Trying to figure it out

I've been to the doctor today to have my blood drawn. I am supposed to do this every 3 months for my thyroid but I am late this time. I think something is up because I feel terrible. I am exhausted by 11 in the morning and I have body aches every day. On friday I will meet with my physician and discuss these horrible symptoms. Hopefully we can figure it out cuz I can't function like this.
So sorry about the lack of updates on my wednesday feature, workbasket wednesday. I just haven't been able to get it together. Hopefully when I feel better I will be able to get back to it.
One positive thing about all of this is that I am getting quite a bit of stitching done.
I have a new model finished and am about 1/3 finished with another one. I also finished a little Shepherd's Bush kit and I'm halfway through a Christmas kit by Trilogy. So all is not a total loss.

Halloween punchneedle

I went to my local needlework store's punch and cookie night and learned the art of punchneedle. It is really fun and addicting. Here is the first design I did. Then I punched another design that I already have at home.

And finally, a picture of the awesome gift I received at my EGA group from my secret stitcher. I just love it, it's so cute!